The Story

**Update as of 7-14-2014Liam is back home and doing better. Please keep the Bartleson's in your continued prayers.

**Update as of 7-12-2014 (1:20 PM)Liam has been taken back down to the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City. Within the last 24 hours Liam has had approximately 150+ seizures. Mitch and Katy are waiting to hear from the neurologist some time today.

Baby Liam Bartleson was born on March 22, 2014 in Mason City, IA. He was transferred to Iowa City on March 24th and spent 5 weeks in the ICU at the University of Iowa Hospital. Initially, Liam was treated for benign familial neonatal seizures and the parents were told that he would more then likely grow out of the seizures. Within the last four weeks Liam's seizures began to change and then was transferred back down to the University of Iowa Hospital. Liam underwent two days of EEG (Electroencephalogram) and at PET Scan (Positron Emission Tomography Scan). These tests concluded that Liam is suffering from a rare disease called Malignant Migrating Partial Seizures in Infancy.

This rare disease was discovered in 1995. Seizures can appear in multiple locations of the brain and migrate from one region to another making surgery not an option. Liam is currently having 20-30 plus noticeable seizures a day, however, is suffering from silent seizures which can only be detected through the EEG. Affected babies will often lose both mental and motor skills that are developed after birth such as eye contact, controlling head movement and weak muscle tone. However, the vast majority of children with this rare disease do not develop the ability to speak. Since 1995 there have only been 100 documented cases.

Currently, Laim is taking four different types of epileptic medicine and awaiting a new drug from Sweden called Stiripentol.

Every 4-6 weeks Laim must travel 3 hours to Iowa City to be hooked up to the EEG to continually monitor the seizure activity. He will stay down there for 2-3 days while he is monitored.